I hope for justice: daughter of Ehsan Jafri, 2002 riot victim

Nishrin Jafri Hussain, daughter of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed during the 2002 riots in Gujarat, narrated graphic details of the incident at the London School of Economics last evening and said she and her family continued to hope for justice.

Hussain, who is based in the United States, was overcome with emotions as she showed pictures of her father and other victims of the 2002 riots to an audience that mostly comprised students. She said she was speaking on "behalf of victims of Gujarat".

"I still have hope that we will get justice. No one came to help us on that day. Why did neighbours not help? My mother is fighting for justice; she is not going to give up. Why are we not protecting our minorities?" she said.

Speaking at an event titled 'Gender and the Hindu right in India' organised by the LSE Gender Institute, Hussain said she met several women who had allegedly been raped during the riots.

"When political power comes up, why attack girls? Why don't you feel that we are the same people? There has to be way by which every girl is protected, whatever their religion," she said.

Besides Hussain, speakers Angana P Chatterji, Meena Kandasamy and Kalpana Wilson highlighted the many incidents of rape in India and criticised the status of women in the world-view of the RSS family personified by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

Hussain's mother Zakia Jafri had filed a petition against Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of complicity in the riots. In May 2013, a Gujarat court upheld a Special Investigation Team's (SIT) clean chit to Modi in the 2002 Gujarat communal riots.

The SIT, appointed by the Supreme Court in 2008 to determine whether Modi should be tried for his alleged role in the riots, said in its report in 2012 no prosecutable evidence was found against the Gujarat CM.